Lapid tops Post's 50 most influential Jews list

The head of Yesh Atid has the power to reset the national agenda, making him the most influential Jew in the world.

Yair Lapid 370.
(photo credit:Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)

Our choice for the most influential Jew in the world sky-rocketed from near
anonymity outside of Israel to being hailed by international media outlets as
“Israel’s kingmaker,” after he came close to garnering more seats in the Knesset
than Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (#3) in the January election.

The
world wondered if Yair Lapid, the 49-year-old head and founder of Yesh Atid, had
dethroned “King Bibi,” a nickname Time bestowed upon Netanyahu in May 2012. One
thing was for sure: Lapid’s meteoric rise signaled to the world a resounding
shift in national priorities, and that a more moderate and internally focused
leadership was on the horizon. He is a man who can fashion the face of Israel’s
future.

As finance minister, his recent proposal of budget cuts has
angered nearly everyone – the middle class, haredim, tourists – though he
promises they will save the economy and ultimately benefit the working man. Only
time will tell if he is correct.

Lapid’s heavily domestic platform on
economic reform, equalizing the burden of service and freedom of religion for
all Jews in Israel has electrified the populace, and could signify the beginning
of a Jewish state different from the one Netanyahu has led for the last three
years.

Lapid has promised to focus more on education and welfare than on
defense and negotiations with the Palestinians, to recognize non-Orthodox rabbis
and to refuse to bend the budget to the needs of the ultra-Orthodox.

His
undeniable strength in dictating the makeup of the coalition sent the haredi
parties packing. He is not known or listened to yet by world leaders, but he is
pulling strings from behind the scenes and listening to the people.

Lapid
is the right leader for the right time. He expresses the frustrations felt by
the majority of Israelis against big business and haredim and represents a new
polished Israeli face to show to the world. As finance minister he is starting
to put his promises into action, presenting plans to replace the government’s
financial assistance to haredim with funds for working families and IDF
veterans.

“The state is sick of taking orders from you, and now you
aren’t on the Finance Committee,” Lapid shouted last month at haredi
representatives.

And while the ultra-Orthodox parties see an enemy in
Lapid, and one newspaper even recently compared him to Hitler, he is also a
bridge-builder, finding some allies among both the haredi and secular, and
forming bonds with Reform and Conservative Jews in the Diaspora, who welcome his
calls for equality.

His challenge will be to prevent a polarization of
Israeli society, reaching compromise with the ultra- Orthodox as opposed to
marginalizing them and having them feel further despised.

Time magazine
placed Lapid on its 100 Most Influential People list earlier this year,
explaining that the leader with “swagger” could change the Jewish state from the
inside out and dictate the country’s direction for years to come.

“If the
word at large views Israel through its conflict with the Palestinians, Lapid
personifies the nation’s determinedly inward focus,” the article
stated.

Under the “torch lighter’s” influence, Israel could light the way
to a very different future.

At No. 2 we placed Jack Lew, US secretary of
the Treasury, who may finally be able to help the United States pull itself out
of its financial woes. The challenges facing Lew, President Barack Obama’s
former chief of staff, are daunting: IMF reform, a weak euro, a slow recovery at
home and an unprecedented budget crisis with a Congress unwilling or unable to
act. Last week, at a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors
from around the world, Lew urged Congress to deal “right away” with extending
the debt ceiling, saying that the longer it is put off, the more damage it will
do to the economy. As Lew also uses his powerful pulpit to apply pressure on his
European counterparts to ease off on austerity measures, his influence will be
felt on a global level.

The remainder of the spots on our list were also
highly contested. Narrowing down the thousands of Jewish politicians, writers,
actors, musicians, businesspeople, artists and activists to a mere 50 inevitably
excludes many worthwhile candidates.

The Jerusalem Post’s selection
committee, made up of four editors, took suggestions from reporters, editors and
members of the management and strove for diversity and balance, and to add as
many fresh names as possible.

Anat Hoffman, the chairwoman of the Women
of the Wall group, took No. 5 on our list, for successfully and forcefully
bringing the issue of women’s rights to pray aloud, read Torah and wear ritual
garments at Judaism’s holiest site to the forefront of the consciousness of
world Jewry.

Through her and the organization’s efforts, a plan has been
put forward by Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky (#24) to create a new area
for egalitarian prayer at the Kotel. This proposal raises the possibility of
drastically changing the face of the spot that millions of visitors flock to
from around the globe.

In some members of the
list – like US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan (#12), and Defense Secretary
Moshe Ya’alon (#9) – we see great potential for influence given their status,
while in others, like AIPAC executive director Howard Kohr (#22), Religious
Action Center director Rabbi David Saperstein (#26), writer David Grossman (#36)
and filmmaker Steven Spielberg (#13), we see a proven record of incredible
political, social and cultural influence on the Jewish world and the world at
large.

Mark Zuckerberg (#16) of Facebook and Sergey Brin (#6) of Google
are constantly changing how we use the Internet, while Scooter Braun (#24) and
Lena Dunham (#18) have a profound impact on pop culture and a generation just
coming of age.

Our list spans not only a variety of fields but also a
68-year age gap: from 21-year-old Yityish Aynaw (#39), Israel’s first Ethiopian
Miss Israel, to 89-yearold Sumner Redstone (#21), the owner and chairman of CBS
and Viacom.

As we did last year, we recall some of the influential Jews
who died since last Shavuot, leaving behind an inspiring legacy, such as Pauline
Phillips, known to the world as “Dear Abby,” and composer Marvin Hamlisch, who
is one of two people ever to win Emmy, Grammy, Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer
prizes.

That list also remembers spiritual leaders who died in the last
year, including Rabbi Herschel Schachter, who helped liberate Buchenwald, Rabbi
Menachem Froman, the chief rabbi of Tekoa who advocated for dialogue with his
Palestinian neighbors, and Rabbi David Hartman, a pillar of liberal
Orthodoxy.

We also look to the future, listing six very different
influential women who are leading the way in their respective fields and
inspiring many with their courage and innovation, whether in athletics (gymnast
Aly Raisman), education (Jerusalem Haredi College founder Adina Bar-Shalom) or
politics (Houda Ezra Nonoo, Bahraini ambassador to the US).